


facts and memories and anecdotes

by flibbertygigget



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Marauders Critical, Moral Ambiguity, Open-ish ending, Werewolf Severus Snape, i might add to this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-13
Updated: 2018-10-13
Packaged: 2019-08-01 16:55:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16288328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flibbertygigget/pseuds/flibbertygigget
Summary: “Run,” Black whispered. “Run. Now.” But Harry couldn’t run. Snape's eyes were awake and distinctly inhuman, and Harry could see the exact moment that the werewolf understood what was happening.In which Snape got bit during The Prank.





	facts and memories and anecdotes

“One wrong move, Peter,” said Lupin as he walked away from the Whomping Willow. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Black, and an unconscious Snape trailed behind him, and his wand was still pointed sideways at Pettigrew’s chest. Silently they tramped through the grounds, the castle lights growing slowly larger. Snape was still drifting weirdly ahead of Black, his chin bumping on his chest.

And then — A cloud shifted. There were suddenly dim shadows on the ground. Their party was bathed in moonlight. Snape collided with Lupin, Pettigrew, and Ron, who had stopped abruptly. Black froze. He flung out one arm to make Harry and Hermione stop. Harry could see Lupin’s silhouette. He had gone rigid. Then his limbs began to shake.

“Oh, my —” Hermione gasped. “He didn’t take his potion tonight! He’s not safe!”

“Run,” Black whispered. “Run. Now.” But Harry couldn’t run. He was suddenly distracted by a horrifying sight. Snape was shaking and writhing alongside Lupin, suspended in midair for the moment but with eyes suddenly awake and distinctly inhuman. Those eyes caught his, and Harry could see the exact moment that the wolf-Snape understood what was happening.

There was a terrible snarling noise. The werewolves’ heads were lengthening. So were their bodies. Shoulders were hunching, hair was sprouting visibly on their faces and hands, which were curling into clawed paws. As the werewolf Lupin reared, snapping its long jaws, Snape’s wolf broke from its magical bonds, falling to the ground with an almost catlike grace and placing itself, _himself_ , squarely in between the humans and Lupin’s werewolf.

“What the-“ Black breathed, but there was no time for him to say anything else. As the werewolf Lupin wrenched itself free of the manacle binding it, Snape seized it about the neck and pulled it backward, away from Ron and Pettigrew. They were locked, jaw to jaw, claws ripping at each other — Harry stood, transfixed by the sight, too intent upon the battle to notice anything else.

It was Hermione’s scream that alerted him — Pettigrew had dived for Lupin’s dropped wand. Ron, unsteady on his bandaged leg, fell. There was a bang, a burst of light — and Ron lay motionless on the ground. Another bang — Crookshanks flew into the air and back to the earth in a heap.

“Expelliarmus!” Harry yelled, pointing his own wand at Pettigrew; Lupin’s wand flew high into the air and out of sight. “Stay where you are!” Harry shouted, running forward. Too late. Pettigrew had transformed. Harry saw his bald tail whip through the manacle on Ron’s outstretched arm and heard a scurrying through the grass.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Black snarled, and in an instant a huge, bear-like dog was bounding after the rat. Harry was about to follow when he heard the unmistakable growl of a wolf to his right. One of the werewolves, he couldn’t tell which, shot out of the forest and barreled into Black. Black tried to shrug the beast off him, but the snap of jaws millimeters from his throat made him freeze.

“Stop!” Harry yelled desperately. The wolf looked over at him, and when he caught Harry’s eyes again Harry knew that it had to be Snape, looking a bit worse for wear. He was favoring his left foreleg, the fur of his right shoulder matted down with some thick, tacky liquid, and one of his ears had almost been bitten clean off. Harry tried to move closer, unsure of whether he wanted to help Black or check Snape’s injuries, but the low growl that emitted from deep in the werewolf’s throat made him freeze in his tracks. Beneath the wolf, Black slowly melted back into his human form.

“Run! Now!” he yelled. Snape’s attention snapped back to the pinned man, lips curling back to reveal what seemed like hundreds of gleaming, deadly teeth. “Harry, he’s a werewolf, he’s going to kill you!”

“No, he won’t,” Hermione breathed in the same tone she used after figuring out an Arithmancy equation. “Professor Snape – This explains everything.” She turned to the werewolf. “You’ve taken your Wolfsbane, haven’t you?” After a moment of hesitation, the wolf nodded. “And when you gave us that essay – But wait, then how come you’re never absent at full moon?” Snape tossed his head in a move that looked remarkably like an eyeroll. “Of course, but how did you become-“ Her eyes widened, and her face lost what little color it had left. “Oh. _Oh._ Oh, God, I’m so sorry.”

Snape didn’t appear to hear her. With one last warning growl, he had cautiously taken his weight off Black and come over to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, ignoring Ron’s squeak of fear and instead sniffing at his broken leg with extreme interest. Then he set himself squarely between Black and the students and, taking a deep breath, began to howl.

“Bloody hell, he’ll wake the whole school!” shouted Ron.

“I think that’s what he wants,” Hermione said. “Listen.” They stood, in silence except for the intermittent howls. “It’s Morse Code,” Hermione continued. “Three short, three long, three short – that’s S.O.S. And then one short, two long, one short, two long – W. W. That must mean Whomping Willow.”

“Right,” Harry said. “So that must mean…” He looked back toward the castle. He could see two wand-lights bobbing towards them in the distance. “But, wait, we can’t let them – Sirius is innocent!” Snape paused in his howling to snarl. “No, look, you have to believe us. You _saw_ Peter Pettigrew. We have to stop him before he gets away.” Black looked as though he was going to move, but Snape growled, muscles roiling beneath his skin as he got ready to pounce.

“Professor-“ Hermione began.

“Severus, what’s going on here?” Harry looked up to see Dumbledore there, Madame Pomfrey right on his heels.

“Professor!” Harry said. “Look, you’ve got to do something! Sirius Black is innocent. Scabbers – Ron’s rat, I mean – He’s Pettigrew! He’s an Animagus!” Harry paused for breath, but Dumbledore wasn’t paying any attention to him.

“Severus,” he said. There was a long pause as he and the werewolf seemed to gaze into each other’s eyes. “I see,” Dumbledore said at last. He turned to Black, wand raised, and in a moment thick cords had shot from the end of his wand. Black snarled angrily as he writhed on the ground.

“Albus, you can’t do this!” he yelled. “Harry, listen to Harry! The fucking werewolf didn’t even-“

“I am willing to hear all sides of the story, Sirius,” Dumbledore said, his face graver than Harry had ever seen it, “but the necessary precautions must be made. Severus, if you would…” The wolf struggled to his feet, limping heavily as he went to Dumbledore’s side.

“Severus Snape, what have you done to yourself?” Madame Pomfrey exclaimed. The werewolf let out a snort and shrugged off the hand that had begun examining his shoulder. Snape nodded his head towards Ron, as though to say _he’s the one who needs medical attention, idiot._ “Sit still, young man. You’ve lost enough blood already.” Snape reluctantly sat down, making a satisfied humming sound as Madame Pomfrey scratched him behind his uninjured ear before turning her attention to the one that had nearly been torn off. Harry couldn’t help but stare. In his werewolf form, Snape seemed strangely docile, even friendly, more like a dog than a bloodthirsty wolf.

“Um, Professor Dumbledore,” Hermione said, “I understand that you need to make sure that precautions are taken, but we can’t let Peter Pettigrew get away.” Dumbledore finally took his attention away from Snape, looking at Hermione with a slight sigh.

“I realize that, Miss Granger,” he said, “but for the moment we must concentrate on the more immediate problems. Poppy, lead the children to the hospital wing. I want them all checked over and to stay there, at least for the night. Sirius, you will be coming with me and kept secure. Severus…” Snape got to his feet, no longer favoring his left leg quite so much. “I am afraid I must ask more of you tonight. If Peter Pettigrew is indeed alive, a great many things must be explained. I must ask that you track him, in addition to your usual full moon patrol.” Snape nodded and trotted off. Madame Pomfrey conjured a stretcher for Ron and began to usher Harry and Hermione back towards the castle, but Harry hung back, hoping for more answers from Dumbledore.

“Sir,” Harry said, “about Black and…” He glanced towards the Forbidden Forest. “I mean, how come Snape was able to take that potion and Lupin wasn’t? How did Snape become a werewolf? Why-“

“I will answer as many questions as I can later, Harry, I promise you that,” Dumbledore said. “For now, I must ask that you join your friends in the hospital wing.” Harry glanced over at Black, who was still struggling against his bindings on the ground.

“What about Black? Will he be alright?” Dumbledore sighed.

“A great much depends on the next few hours,” he said. “I suggest you get some rest. I will see you in the morning.”

* * *

Harry got very little sleep over the rest of that night. Ron had been given a pain potion that made him fall asleep almost immediately, but Harry could tell that Hermione was awake as well. He tried once or twice to talk with her about all that had happened, but she was being remarkably close-lipped, even for Hermione. Harry had the impression that she had figured out something horrible, something that he could only guess at until Dumbledore came back.

Dawn was just beginning to touch the horizon when the door of the hospital wing opened. Harry sat up straight in his bed as Dumbledore entered, looking far older and more tired than he had the previous evening. Harry opened his mouth to speak, but before he could Madame Pomfrey came in behind Dumbledore, and exhausted and almost beaten-looking Snape leaning heavily on her shoulder.

“Sir, what happened?” Harry asked. Hermione and Ron were awake now, too, and listening intently, but to Harry’s disappointment Dumbledore didn’t even look at them.

“I can arrange for your classes to be covered, Severus.”

“Absolutely not,” Snape said in a tone that would have been snappish if it hadn’t sounded so drained. “Headmaster, I am perfectly capable-“

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Madame Pomfrey said. “I’ve been telling you for years that you push yourself too hard at full moon, and last night was far worse than usual.”

“It’s only lectures,” Snape said dismissively. “Besides, it’s not just my classes; I was supposed to have Lupin’s second and sixth years-“

“- and if he can let the other professors cover his classes during full moon, so can you,” Madame Pomfrey said. “Now _sit down_. You need Bruise Balm at the very least.” Snape sighed, but he allowed himself to be helped over to one of the beds at the far end of the hospital wing. He noticed Harry’s staring and glowered, but Harry couldn’t make himself look away until Dumbledore conjured a chair at the end his, Ron, and Hermione’s beds and sat down with a faint sigh.

“Sir?” Harry said. Dumbledore sighed again and closed his eyes.

“I expect you have many questions for me, all of you,” he said. “I will answer them to the best of my ability, but there is much that is uncertain. There is much that has been concealed from me for the last twelve years.”

“Sir, what’s going to happen to Sirius?” Harry asked.

“For the moment, his fate is uncertain,” Dumbledore said. “Professor Snape did manage to catch Peter Pettigrew, and he is now in Ministry custody. There are still many questions, however. Sirius Black has not acted like an innocent man. He broke into Hogwarts twice with a weapon, and he has testified himself that he was planning to murder Pettigrew. I am optimistic that justice will soon be done, but for the time being he must remain under constant guard and cannot be allowed outside visitors.” Harry nodded.

“And Professor Lupin?” he asked. Snape snorted from across the hospital wing.

“Professor Lupin was brought back from the forest by the centaurs and is currently recovering in his quarters. He will be packing his things and leaving this evening.”

“What? Why? The Ministry didn’t think he had anything to do with Sirius, did they?”

“Oh, no, they are quite convinced that he was trying to save your lives,” Dumbledore said. “However, considering the circumstances, it is quite impossible to allow him to continue to teach here.”

“But-“ Harry began.

“ _Think_ , Potter,” Snape said. He struggled to his feet and tottered across the room, almost collapsing into the chair that Dumbledore conjured on his right hand. “Last night revealed enough negligence to fire Lupin a hundred times over.”

“Oh, yeah? Like what?” Harry shot back. Snape’s dark eyes glittered, and Harry imagined that he saw a hint of the wolf in them.

“Well, for one, he concealed information and artifacts that could have led to the capture of Black if they had been brought to the Headmaster. Not just Black’s Animagus form, Potter, but that map as well.”

“But Sirius is innocent!”

“Did Lupin know that? Because I was under the impression that he fully believed Black was a mass murderer and a Death Eater. Surely his students’ safety should have meant more to him than a former friendship, don’t you agree?”

“He said he didn’t want Dumbledore to know how badly he betrayed his trust,” Harry said.

“And so he compounded his betrayal and puts hundreds of lives at risk. How very admirable. Besides, the Headmaster,” Snape nodded at Dumbledore, “is a forgiving man. He would have been disappointed, yes, but it would have hardly been the end of the world if Lupin had brought his concerns to him immediately. Instead, he kept his silence. Besides, even if Lupin had done everything in his power to keep his students safe, there is still that little problem of him missing his Wolfsbane – and taking that potion was one of the conditions upon which his employment rested.”

“Wait, that’s not fair,” Ron said angrily. “Lupin was trying to save us.”

“No, he was trying to assuage his own guilt about what happened years ago. If he had cared about your safety, he would have come to me for his Wolfsbane immediately after supper like he was supposed to and not waited on it for his own amusement. If he had cared about your safety, he would have stayed in the Shack and sent the rest of you ahead when it became obvious that he couldn’t get to his potion in time. If he had cared about your safety, he would have brought the information he gleaned from that damned map to the Headmaster instead of going off on a quest to murder a dead man.”

“But he was trying to-“ Harry bit his lip at Snape’s poisonous glare.

“Do you not understand, you idiotic child? You. Could. Have. Been. _Killed_. It doesn’t matter what his intentions were, Lupin’s actions put you face to face with two bloodthirsty killers. He doesn’t deserve the dignity of _resigning_ that the Headmaster is giving him; he ought to be fired, put on trial, and thrown into Azkaban for criminal negligence.” Snape struggled to his feet, wavering slightly on the spot. “Now, if you will excuse me, Headmaster, I have to go prepare for my classes.”

“Severus…” Snape glared at Dumbledore. “If you insist.” Snape began making his slow way to the hospital wing door.

“Wait!” Hermione said. Snape paused. “Why – How did you become a werewolf?” Every muscle on Snape’s back went rock hard as he bristled.

“That, Miss Granger, is absolutely _none_ of your business,” he snapped. “Ask the Headmaster if you want, but I will not be treated as _entertainment_.” The door slammed shut behind him, and Hermione turned her wide-eyed gaze to Dumbledore.

“Sir?” she said. Dumbledore didn’t answer. “Sir, Professor Lupin told us about the trick Black played on Professor Snape. I think I know what happened, but – Please, sir, I don’t understand everything, not quite.” Hermione stopped speaking abruptly, teeth digging into her bottom lip.

“And what is it you would like to know?” Dumbledore said. He had the fatigued air of someone who already knew what questions he would be asked and wasn’t looking forward to answering them. Hermione seemed to consider the question for a moment.

“There are some things about Professor Lupin’s story that just don’t add up,” she said slowly. “Why would Black trick Professor Snape into going – going down there in the first place? And when he did, when Professor Snape got b-bitten, why wouldn’t he be expelled at the _very_ least?” Harry stared at Hermione. He didn’t know how she could be so certain that Snape had become a werewolf due to the prank, but it wasn’t as though the Headmaster was denying it. In fact, Dumbledore just sighed.

“The answer to those questions is far more complicated than you realize,” he said. “But I will admit that the greatest part of the blame lies with me. The manner in which I ran Hogwarts when Professor Snape was a student here is among my greatest failures.”

“That can’t be right!” Ron burst out. All three of them were staring at Dumbledore now, wide-eyed.

“I’m afraid that it is. I may have begun with the best of intentions, but in retrospect my intentions were not prioritized correctly. I was foolish enough to forget, in my eagerness to rid the world of evil, that I also had another responsibility – to run a school.”

“But, sir, what does that have to do with Snape?” Harry said impatiently.

“Professor Snape, Harry. And it has everything to do with him,” Dumbledore said gravely. “I must ask you not to interrupt, not until you’ve heard the whole story. You see, when the First Year students of 1971 were Sorted, Lord Voldemort was hardly considered the Dark Wizard he is today. If he was known at all, it was as a politician – ambitious, to be sure, but hardly a real threat. No one outside of the very fringes of anti-Muggle society saw him as anyone much, but I had taught him when he was Tom Riddle. I recognized the path he was leading our world into, and I knew that we would have to muster all our forces to combat him when he showed his true colors.

“Because of this, I kept a special eye on the students I thought had the potential to become the leaders of our upcoming fight. I had known the Potter family for a long time, so I watched your father, Harry, especially closely. Imagine my delight when James befriended not only Sirius Black, the eldest son of a notoriously elitist pureblood family, but also Remus Lupin. Remus was a special project of mine, you see, a last-ditch attempt to see if I could bring the werewolves to my side rather than Voldemort’s.

“A few years passed, and the world grew darker. The disappearances became more frequent, the rhetoric more violent, and some of my students – yes, most of them Slytherins – openly dedicated themselves to Lord Voldemort’s cause. It was during those dark days, when I could see where we were headed but felt powerless to stop it, that those four Gryffindors became my greatest hope for the future.” Dumbledore paused, and Harry noticed that the usual twinkle was gone from his eyes.

“You see, I think, what a horrible mistake I had made. James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were funny, popular, and uncommonly brilliant students. Most importantly, they made their hatred of Voldemort and all those who agreed with him abundantly clear. I believed that, with the right encouragement and guidance, they could become shining beacons in the darkness ahead.

“So what if they broke a few rules? I hardly trusted the Ministry to lead the fight against the Dark Lord. So what if, at times, they were overeager to punish those they saw as the enemy? We were on the verge of a war, and I thought it better to teach them to fight rather than stand aside.  By their fourth year, some of the teachers and students were complaining. By their fifth, even Professor McGonagall thought that I was being too lenient. Still, I was convinced that any temporary discontent was worth it. After all, what damage could they do at Hogwarts that could compare to the war that I saw coming?”

“And then Black decided to set a werewolf on Professor Snape,” Hermione said, the edge of anger in her voice making the hair on the back of Harry’s neck stand on end. Dumbledore nodded. “But that still doesn’t explain why Black wasn’t expelled.”

“If it had been any other circumstances, perhaps he would have been,” said Dumbledore with a sigh, “but I felt that my hands were tied. Expelling Sirius would have required an explanation. No one besides myself and Madame Pomfrey knew that Professor Lupin was a werewolf; the Ministry would have executed him as a dangerous beast if they knew that he had bitten someone. Professor Snape would have been forced to leave Hogwarts as well. I weighed the options as I saw them and chose the best I had available to me.”

“So how did you punish everyone involved?” Hermione said, crossing her arms.

“Sirius was given weekly detentions for a month – I couldn’t do more without informing others of the reason, and besides, I didn’t want to ruin his OWL grades unnecessarily. James gained points for his heroism, of course,” Dumbledore smiled at Harry, and Harry shifted uncomfortably, “while Professor Snape lost the standard number for being out after curfew. All in all, much good came out of a horrible situation.”

“Much good,” Hermione said. She sounded supremely unconvinced.

“Of course. That incident was the impetus, I believe, that caused James and Sirius to grow up and become true leaders in the war against Voldemort. It also inspired Professor Snape to become an apprentice to Damocles Belby and help him develop the Wolfsbane Potion.”

“Black – Sirius, I mean – He didn’t sound very sorry for what he did,” Harry said awkwardly. “He said that Snape deserved it.”

“Twelve years in Azkaban would cause anyone to regress, Harry. In time, however, I believe that Sirius will recover,” Dumbledore said. He stood and looked at all three of them. “Now, do you have any more questions?” Harry and Ron shook their heads, and after a moment Hermione sighed and gave one jerky shake of her head. “Well, then, I must leave you.” He left the room as quickly as he had entered. It wasn’t until the door had closed behind him that Hermione turned to the two boys, her lips as thin and disapproving as McGonagall’s.

“Well, then,” she said. “What do you two think of _that_?” Her tone left no doubt that she thought there was a correct answer you would have to be completely thick to miss. Harry glanced over at Ron, who he was glad to see looked just as confused as he felt.

“Er, I think I know why Snape wasn’t crazy about my dad?” Harry said. Hermione glared at him.

“Dumbledore’s obviously hiding things from us, downplaying his own faults and the faults of Professor Lupin and Black and – and all that lot.”

“I don’t know, Hermione,” Ron said. “I mean, he did say that it was pretty much his fault. What more to you want?”

“I want the truth. The whole truth.” Hermione stood up, brushing the wrinkles out of her robes.

“Wait, where are you going?” Harry asked.

“To get some answers,” she said angrily, marching out of the hospital wing like she was on some important mission. Ron looked at the door that she’d slammed behind her, mouth gaping slightly.

“What do you reckon she’s on about?” he said. Harry shrugged and didn’t answer. He didn’t want to tell Ron his suspicions, and he wanted even less to admit that he had a terrible feeling that Hermione was on the right track.


End file.
